President Barack Obama appeared irritated Friday when he was asked about Hillary Rodham Clinton's opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership — declining to comment on her flip-flop on an agreement she praised as his secretary of State.
"With respect to the trade and how Hillary views trade, I would have you direct questions to her," Obama said at a joint press conference with South Korean President Park Geun-hye
in the East Room of the White House. "I mean, here is a general proposition, guys. During the course of what will be a long campaign, I probably won't be commenting on every single utterance or decision that the various candidates make, because I think that it is natural and proper for candidates to run on their own vision and their own platform," he said. During Tuesday's Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, Clinton said regarding the deal, "I did say, when I was secretary of State, three years ago, that I hoped it would be the gold standard. It was just finally negotiated last week, and in looking at it, it didn't meet my standards. ... And I want to make sure that I can look into the eyes of any middle-class American and say, 'This will help raise your wages.' And I concluded I could not."